Carruth J A
Southampton University Hospitals, UK.
Int J Clin Pract. 1998 Jan-Feb;52(1):39-42.
Photodynamic therapy is a modality for the treatment of malignant disease in which a photosensitive drug is selectively absorbed or retained by malignant tissues, after intravenous injection and is then photoactivated by light of an appropriate wavelength, often produced by a laser. Over the past two decades, the combination of haematoporphyrin derivative (HPD) and then its active component dihaematoprophyrin ether (DHE), now marketed as Photofrin, plus red light at 630 nm have been used in clinical practice for the treatment of a range of tumours; some very promising results have been obtained. Several countries have approved this drug/light combination for clinical use for a number of tumours. Some second generation photosensitising agents with appropriate light sources, and with perceived advantages over Photofrin, are under investigation, and it is to be hoped that major improvements in drug/light combinations will enable photodynamic therapy to achieve its full potential in the not-too-distant future.
光动力疗法是一种治疗恶性疾病的方法，即在静脉注射后，一种光敏药物被恶性组织选择性吸收或滞留，然后通过通常由激光产生的适当波长的光进行光激活。在过去二十年中，血卟啉衍生物（HPD）及其活性成分二血卟啉醚（DHE，现作为Photofrin销售）与630nm红光的组合已在临床实践中用于治疗一系列肿瘤；已取得了一些非常有前景的结果。几个国家已批准这种药物/光组合用于多种肿瘤的临床治疗。一些具有适当光源且被认为比Photofrin更具优势的第二代光敏剂正在研究中，希望在不远的将来，药物/光组合的重大改进将使光动力疗法充分发挥其潜力。
